Mumbai : On the eve of International Women’s Day, Save The Children and Apnalaya conducted the mock drills for the community residing in shivaji Nagar area of Govandi. The Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Task Forces have so far trained 105 Female Task Forces, 118 Girls, and 81 Mothers. This novel initiative is a global initiative if Save The Children and works closely with Apnalaya for the same. The Govandi slum population ae very vulnerable to floods, fire, demolition, electric shock, cylinder blast, drug peddler menace. And a program like this for the community is a boon.

The day also marked the distribution of a 2017 Yearly calender with a difference. The calender termed ‘Household Preparedness Calender’ will reach out to 6000 households in Shivaji Nagar, Govandi area. The DRR Campaign by Save The Children is conducted in Mumbai in 10 clusters of Shivaji Nagar areas like Nirankari Nagar, Sanjay Nagar, Chikhalwadi, Padma Nagar, Mominpura, Rafi Nagar etc and will train 4000 member across Youth group, mother group and child group. Sandhya Krishnan, General Manager State Program Maharashtra , “Save the Children works with  children and women to increase their coping capacity to shocks induced by natural hazards and everyday risks through child centered disaster risk reduction approach”.

At the onset of the program Disaster Management Kits were distributed to the community which included flags, mega phone, first aid boxes, rope, axe etc. The mock drills include operations like Early warning, first aid, search and rescue, psycho social care, shelter management which are conducted by the task forces across the various clusters of the Shivaji Nagar area. Mr. Vikrant Dinkar, Program Manager, Apnalaya shares, “Till the time government help reaches us we are self-equipped and know what to do to avoid hassles, that’s the aim of the DRR program conducted by Save The Children &Apnalaya”.

The 2017 ‘Household Preparedness Calender’ is prepared to create awareness on safety at home based on the months and seasons. Graphics are used to reach out to the uneducated class like Festivals as tools to identify the months like Holi, Eid, Diwali, Republic Day etc. Similar graphics are used for useful elements like preserving grains, keeping pan card handy etc during unforeseen conditions are also used. The Calender also has Helpline numbers and contacts of fire brigade, hospitals, and municipal hospitals so that they have it handy.